By: Richard Pyle
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - More than 2 million people from around
the world donated money to a fund that has distributed
nearly $336 million to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks,
according to a new report.
The report, for release later Friday, "tries to document the
incredible outpouring of support" that flowed into The September
11th Fund from the United States and 148 foreign countries, said
Jeanine Moss, the charity's spokeswoman.
The American Red Cross, meanwhile, said it will have distributed
$643 million of the $1 billion raised to help victims by the one-year
anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The charity said it provided
aid from its Liberty Fund to 55,000 people affected by the attacks.
Assuming recipients accept all available Red Cross assistance,
the charity estimated that the more than 3,000 families of those
killed or seriously injured in the attacks would receive an
average of $115,000.
The September 11th Fund report summarizes the charity's efforts
and outlines "where we go from here," Moss said. The fund was
created the same day hijacked jetliners hit the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon.
The project has given 273 grants in varying amounts to 250
service organizations, which then distribute the money as direct
financial assistance.
Recipients have included as many as 100,000 people who lost
loved ones, were laid off from jobs, suffered health problems or
were otherwise severely affected. Among them are families of some
of the 2,800 people killed in the attacks and collapse of the trade
center's twin towers and hundreds of volunteers who worked in the
nine-month recovery effort.
Moss said a great deal of the money had gone to support mental health
care needs and legal counseling for survivors and financial help for small
businesses and people who lost jobs in economically impacted areas.
Among the contributions, Moss said, were a $5 check from the African
country of Malawi, where the average annual income is $180, and $1,200
raised by a Canadian teenager who cut off her long blond hair and
donated it to a cancer patient needing a wig.
The Red Cross leads the way in charitable fund-raising for the attacks.
Thirty-four other charities have raised a total of $2.4 billion, according
to a General Accounting Office report.
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